Ciao to Backroads

Our last day with our Backroads tour is always sad and this was especially true for this one. With the weather being a factor at the beginning of the week, we were just getting in the swing of the biking. And we loved being with our family and friends in such a beautiful area of the world. But, not before one last mini-ride!

On most trips the turnout for the last day ride is low…and that has included us not attending in the past. But, with the beautiful surroundings and the sun finally deciding to stick around…all nine of us were on the bikes at the early time of 8am.

Melissa was our leader and our destination was a church that overlooked the valley and we could see from our villa. That of course meant up some hills and after several days of long rides, I was very happy to have a ebike!

From the top we wound our way down to a pretty little patio that had amazing views of the entire valley which screamed “take more pictures!!”. So along with our last Backroads coffee we all were all clicking our phones to capture the beautiful landscape of the Lake Garda area.

All too soon we had to take our last spin down to the villa, to shower, pack and catch the van for either Verona or Venice. It was so amazing to have our family along for this trip. We have always wanted to have friends and family join, so it made s so happy to have

them enjoy this wonderful experience.

Katelyn, Shaun and Ashley were great, and it was so fun to introduce our kids (ok hard to say that when they are adults, but you know what I mean) to our favorite way to vacation with Backroads. And, we can’t say enough about Ken’s dad Don, who at 84 was right there with us the entire time. He was an inspiration to the entire group and just a joy to have along. And, even though we had 6 of our family along, it was awesome to have Jan, Al and Victoria with us and

become just one big family in the end.

Our trip leaders, Melissa and Berta were wonderful corralling us all, making sure we were safe, fed, happy and where we needed to be for the week. Giordano took great care of the bikes and us by providing excellent support, coffee suggestions and most importantly MUSIC (we got Don dancing at one of the rest stops).

After hugs all around, we were on the shuttle to Venice, which was about 1.5 hours away. We arrived to the craziness of the Venice bus station and it was sobering to now have to haul our suitcases again. Ashley, Katelyn and I left Don and Ken at a café to go find where to

check in for our apartment. Even though the apartment was in the historic part of Venice, we had to check in right next door to the bus station outside of the city.

We checked in, got the scoop on how to get into town and café suggestions, then picked up the waterbus tickets that would ferry us to Ca’d’Oro our stop. With Ken and Don in tow and saying bon voyage to Jan (she was staying on another island in Venice), we found our way to the waterbus, got on and watched the boat action on the Grand Canal.

We found our stop and easily found the apartment, but it was only 2p,

so we had an hour to kill before it was ready. That gave us a good reason to sit a small café next to the apartment for snacks and wine! When we were able to get in, we found a very large 3 bedroom 2 bath apartment that easily fit the 6 of us.

Since Katelyn and Shaun were leaving the next morning, they went out to explore while Ken, Don, Ashley and I took a break (ie: nap). At 6p we found our way to a small café in the old Jewish quarter and quickly learned to navigate the Venice canals and bridges. I have never been to Venice and frankly the scenery was more amazing than I expected, with small boats, gondoliers and little alleys leading to all kinds of cool views.

We found the little recommended café, had some wine and cicchettis (little snacks) and watched the scene around us of little boats on the canal, musicians and people enjoying the afternoon in the sun. We decided to head back towards our apartment for dinner and after a couple of stops, found a seafood place down an alley. We enjoyed a feast of Venetian specialties including seafood and wine, before heading back to bed.